You might recognize these two from when when we showed off their sexy, gothy wedding porn a few months ago. Well here's the whole story on this vegan winery wedding.

The offbeat bride: Alyssa, Crafty Concierge

Her offbeat partner: Brian, photographer

Location & date of wedding: Alexander Valley Hall, Geyserville, CA — October 3, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Brian is a photographer specializing in zombie/horror/faux crime scene photography for which I do all of the make-up and effects, so it was assumed from the beginning that any wedding we would have was just going to be offbeat by nature. With that in mind I really didn’t want the whole thing too look too “gothy” or “halloweeny” which could have been very easy for us seeing as we are just naturally drawn to anything black/spooky/scary/bloody, etc. Even though we have a lot of offbeat interests we still wanted the wedding to feel like a WEDDING rather than a Halloween party. In the end the color theme was black and grey but with some natural colors and textures to accent.

Continue reading "Alyssa & Brian's dark and romantic vegan wine country wedding" →

The offbeat bride: Laura, editor/writer

Her offbeat partner: Peter, director of knowledge management

Location & date of wedding: The Walter R. Schuele Planetarium at the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village, Ohio. Reception at The Nicholson House in Lakewood, Ohio. — October 10, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: We were married in a planetarium, by the planetarium director, under the stars with a spotlight shining on us.

My bouquet was made from kale, we didn’t have a bridal party, and our invitations were handmade from recycled paper by a nonprofit. Instead of programs, we made a PowerPoint presentation complete with photos and quizzes displayed on the “sky” before the ceremony. We also had a pre-ceremony animal show featuring an owl, falcon, and skunk. We wrote the ceremony ourselves and walked down the “aisle” together.

Continue reading "Laura & Peter's vegan, starry, planetarium wedding" →

The offbeat bride: Emily, psychology student

Her offbeat partner: Emory, graphic and motion designer

Location & date of wedding: My parent's backyard on a small lake in Hartland, Wisconsin — Oct. 10, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: It was an entirely vegan wedding. Our cake toppers were urban designer toys. We wrote the ceremony and our vows and wore dressy-casual clothing that suited our personalities. We played indie-rock music throughout the reception, drank local beer, and basically treated it like a laid-back party!

Continue reading "Emily & Emory's small, vegan, indie-rock wedding" →

The offbeat bride: Libby, Pediatric Office Manager/child holder-downer (and OBT member)

Her offbeat partner: Jobe, Central Office Tech

Location & date of wedding: Columbia Park, Portland, OR. — July 26th, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Jobe wanted a court house wedding, but I have a lot of important friends and family that I wanted to share our day with (I'm a cancer survivor, and eight years ago I wasn't sure if I would ever get to this point in my life). I just wanted to have a big party with vegan and vegetarian food, and promised Jobe a three – five minute ceremony.

Continue reading "Libby & Jobe's vegan/vegetarian picnic wedding" →

The offbeat bride: Celeste, Fandomania Assistant Editor and Podcast Co-Host (and OBT member)

Her offbeat partner: Jason, Online Comics/Collectibles Store Owner and Fandomania Managing Editor and Podcast Co-Host

Location & date of wedding: Orlando Science Center, Orlando, FL — 11.14.09

What made our wedding offbeat: We are both extremely geeky (we met at a convention while Jason was running the Joss Whedon programming track), which is why we chose the Orlando Science Center, specifically the Dino Digs room, as our venue.

Continue reading "Celeste & Jason's geeky, vegan, sci-fi extravaganza" →

We're doing a "vegan wedding" theme week on Offbeat Bride! And I love that there are enough vegan weddings out there to profile for a whole animal-friendly week. Do take note that though not all of the weddings are ENTIRELY vegan, but, like anything, there are various styles of vegan weddings, whether it includes just the menu or their lifestyle choices in general. -Megan

The offbeat bride: Fran, a mundane office worker (and OBT member)

Her offbeat partner: Siobhán (also known as Von), youth worker and geek

Location & date of wedding: The Derby Conference Centre, a listed Art Deco building with gorgeous original 1930s interior. The ceremony was held in the lecture hall, a small theatre shaped room, then we had the celebrations in their giant sunken lounge in Derby, UK. — 31st October 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Living a non-traditional life meant our guests weren't expecting a traditional day from the start, so we had complete freedom. We're bisexual so it was important our day was a celebration of not just our love but of love generally. The top table included a sibling's wife and girlfriend from their poly life, with a toast to the fact we could even have a legal ceremony.

Continue reading "Fran & Siobhán's feminist, disability-friendly, colourful, vegan wedding" →

Remember that awesome photo of all the bridesmaids in pretty mis-matched green dresses? Well this is the full story on that beautiful outdoor Toronto wedding.

The Offbeat Bride: Sarah – writer and writing teacher

Her Offbeat Partner: Ryan – outdoor educator

Location & date of wedding: Toronto Island, Algonquin Island Clubhouse — August 23, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: It was a DIY bonanza — luckily we have an incredibly talented group of friends who are also professional performers, crafters, photographers, musicians, and chefs. In lieu of gifts, our friends and family participated in the making of a huge, magical, love-filled event.

Continue reading "Sarah & Ryan's Toronto Island love festival" →

Ooh, it's time for another edition of Foot Fetish, where-in I inflict my questionably loud taste in special occasion footwear uponst my willing offbeat victims!

This week, I'm focusing on veggie-friendly heels. From as best as I can tell, all these shoes are all made with non-animal products — most of them are rubber, synthetic, or satin uppers with man-made soles and insoles. The advantage of man-made materials? Yes they're nicer to our animal friends, but they're often also cheaper than leather. The disadvantage? Sometimes quality ain't forever-wear awesome — but that's the joy of wedding shoes: hopefully you only need to wear 'em once!

So, without further ado, let's dive into some crazy/fabulous cruelty-free wedding footwear. As always, click on the shoe picture to view more information, as you imagine these fabulous-but-animal-friendly beauties peeking out from under the hem of your wedding dress:

Continue reading "Veggie wedding heels for daring-but-cruelty-free brides" →